Legacy
by Hellen Highwater
Summary: There are certain things Artemis Fowl would never leave to chance. Oneshot, partner to Anniversary. Arty's not mine, though I'd take good care of him.


L E G A C Y

_For this reason I have changed the world. _

Artemis Fowl II had been born twenty years, two months, and six days before he unexpectedly and inexplicably died, (following the death of his Butler by only six months) and was only on earth for seventeen years. Far too short of a time, in the opinions of the scarce few who actually cared about him. The rest of the world never noticed his absence, save for a scant amount of individuals high up in the intelligence agencies, a couple nerdy scientists who had read his papers, and some of the more successful members of the criminal underworld. They noticed his absence, and were mostly relieved.

The world didn't know the name of Artemis Fowl II until one year after his death, when his first safe box was opened. Fowl Inventions, Inc, a corporation he had started six months before his young death, run by his father after the son's mysterious demise, stunned the world when they revealed the contents of the box. It contained detailed blueprints and notes on how to build the Hunter, a computer system that would revolutionize the world. Fowl Inventions made billions, with Artemis Fowl, Sr., attributing the invention to his dead son. Also in the box were fifteen pages of sheet music, a symphony entitled _Sidhe, _acclaimed by critics to be on the level of Beethoven or Motzart, and one of the most beautiful things they had ever heard.

Precisely one year later, a second deposit box was delivered to Fowl Manor. This one contained blueprints and a scale model for a communications satellite network that would provide coverage anywhere on earth, using only four small, easy-to-make satellites called _Diane One, Diane Two, Diane Three, _and _Diane Four_. The computer codes that the satellites called for baffled the Fowl Inventions technicians. They could only make sense of parts of them, and there were entire sections that seemed to be designed for a computer system not yet developed on earth. But they used the codes anyways, figuring that the dead genius knew best. Foaly, miles below the surface and reading the code of a pirated system, smiled at the back door that his old friend and rival had courteously provided for his use. A peace offering from beyond the grave. When the system was actually launched and the centuar tried to log in, he discovered that he was blocked with a complicated firewall system that would take him months to break. Perhaps not a peace offering, but a final challenge. He smiled, and set his fingers dancing across his brand-new keyboards. The satellites soon opened for use, and seventy-six percent of global communications were routed through the Fowl Invention's _Diane _system by the time the next Artemis Capsule (as they had come to be called) was revealed and opened.

This one was not in a safety deposit box, as the last two had been. It was buried sixteen feet under the manicured turf of Fowl Manor, encased in a concrete coffin. Inside was a fully functional hovercraft with _Sprite_ stenciled on the side. The design was quickly copied by the engineers of Fowl Inventions, mass produced, and shipped all around the world. The vacuum-sealed trunk of the original hovercraft, was opened, and four framed canvases were discovered. Each was a portrait; Angeline and Artemis I as they looked at the time of Artemis's first birthday, one of his earliest clear memories of them. The second two were Myles and Bennet as they would look at fourteen. The treasured paintings were hung over the massive fireplace of the Great Room in Fowl Manor. The outburst of media activity after the public release of the _Sprite _hovercraft line revealed that several of the most scientifically groundbreaking papers in the last two decades had been secretly authored by Artemis Fowl II. For the first time ever, Fortune 500's man of the year was someone who was already dead. Artemis Fowl II's pale face smirked off the covers of magazines all across the world, his mismatched deep blue and hazel eyes shone from crystal clear screens developed from the original Hunter system.

For two decades after his death, Artemis Fowl II revolutionized the world. Every history textbook on the planet mentioned his name, every country recognized him as a hero. The global standard of life was significantly better. Medicine had improved in leaps and bounds, cancer was cured. Hunger had been all but solved via genetically engineered hyper-productive crops. Fresh water was no longer a scarcity in third-world countries thanks to purifying algae and inexpensive well drills. The annual opening of the Artemis Capsule was practically a global holiday. The Fowl family was a group of the wealthiest and most philanthropic individuals in the world.

Unimaginable fanfare accompanied what was known to be the last Artemis Capsule. The world turned its eyes to Ireland, where the last capsule was said to reside. As he had for the last two decades on the day of his son's death, Artemis Fowl I sat down in the genius's bedroom, opened the boy's (now outdated) laptop and said his name. The computer logged him in onto a special user after recognizing his voice. A window popped up, with one sentence written in what appeared to be Artemis II's own handwriting. It said, "Go to my grave."

Before he died, Artemis II had laid out specific plans to occur in the event of his death. He had asked to be buried at the base of a certain oak near a bend in a river. His headstone, a simple rectangle protruding barely a foot and a half from the ground, had been ordered by Artemis II shortly after Butler's death, with the date of death left blank. When the boy's body, terribly mangled but with his face untouched, was discovered outside of the Manor, Artemis II had ordered the final date engraved. But Artemis I had known that his son was dead two hours before the body appeared, when an email was sent to his laptop. The email explained that Artemis II had had a chip implanted in his flesh after his three-year absence. If his heart stopped, and did not resume after ten minutes, the chip would send a signal to his laptop and trigger the email containing utterly emotionless instructions of what to do in event of Artemis II's death.

Now the entire Fowl family, most of the remaining Butlers, and a veritable circus of media, went to Artemis Fowl the Second's quiet resting place. The Fowls alone approached the grave, while the media waited at a distance of twenty feet. As soon as all four Fowls were together, a light projected out of the gravestone, projecting up into a hologram. Artemis Fowl II stood above his grave, made of light, looking as real as flesh and blood.

"Hello, Father. Mother. Myles, Beckett. I trust that you are well.

"This hologram is timed to appear twenty years after my death, following nineteen time capsules, hidden all over the globe. Fowl Inventions will have mass produced the contents of these capsules, and my creations will have changed the world. Such was my intent-to change the world.

"You see, we are not alone. For thousands of years, the human race has believed that we are the only sentient species in the universe.

"We were wrong. Living outside of human knowledge, as they have for centuries, are the People.

"When I was twelve years old, I established contact with this race, kidnapping one of their police officers, who later became one of the dearest friends I have ever had the honor of knowing. In the following years, I saved their civilization seven times, once from my own invention, and many times from the human race itself. They hide because we are too warlike, too stupid, too _dirty _for them to coexist with us.

"For this reason I have changed the world. Perhaps, with this new world, humankind and the People can live together.

"When the nineteenth capsule was opened, a signal was sent to the People, proposing coexistence and revealing the locations of two possible twentieth capsules. One would lead here, to my grave and the exposure of the People, and the other would simply be another invention.

"If you are here, then the People have chosen to reveal themselves to you.

"I have this to tell you, mankind: they will change you, as I changed you, and as they changed me: for the better. They will open your eyes to the earth itself, and to what you are doing to it. They will teach you-they are a far older race than we-so learn from them.

"I don't know when exactly the People will come, but be ready. They mean us no harm; they only want to live in peace. I have already done what I could to prepare you for them, and now we can live together.

"To borrow a phrase, 'My work here is done.'

"Thank you."

The hologram flickered, gaining a more ghostly quality.

"The cameras will not be able to see me now. I have some things I would like to say to you now if I never said them before I died.

"Mum and Dad; I love you. Thank you for everything; I was never easy to live with, and I know it. I'm sorry for all the stress I caused you over the years. I hope that-that you are proud of me."

The hologram, as lifelike as the real thing but for some slight transparency, looked composed as he turned his head to look at where he assumed his brothers were.

"Myles. Beckett. Since this is version one of this hologram, and not version two, which I will make next year, you probably barely remember me. Know this: you always surprised me. I would have died for you-and maybe I did. You were so terribly annoying, and I loved every minute I spent with you. Doubtless, you both hate me, for leaving you standing in my shadow for so long. It's only natural. I am sorry that I have done this to you. I'm sure that it wasn't easy. But I was always slightly jealous of you-you had the childhood I never did. I'm sorry I never got to know you, and I'm sorry you never really knew me. When the People come, ask Holly Short and Foaly to tell you about me. They'll have some interesting stories to tell. I don't know what you're doing now, or who you've become, but you'll always be my little brothers, I'll always be proud of you, and I'll always love you.

"I have only a couple more things to say. One: there's a portrait of me that matches the ones in the second capsule, because I know you'll want one, mother, and I finished it after the capsules were done. It will be delivered to the house after this message is over, if all goes as planned.

"Two: I want you four to lead the relationship between the humans and the People. I know I've asked a lot of you, but please do this for me.

"Finally, just know that I am not afraid to die. I know that my greatest dream-coexistence-will be accomplished. I know that you are all safe, and I have done the best I can to keep things that way.

"Mom. Dad. Myles. Beckett. I love you."

The hologram vanished.

The four Fowls stood solemnly at the grave, eyes still fixed on where the prodigy's image had been. The solemnity of the moment was broken when a voice spoke from nowhere:

"Artemis always such a drama queen."

The Fowls glanced around, startled, and saw nothing.

"In his defense, he was rather brilliant." a second voice replied. The first voice snorted.

"And boy did he know it. That boy had the biggest ego of anyone I've ever met. Except maybe Foaly."

"Don't let him hear you say that."

The Fowls-and the media-had finally pinpointed where the two voices were coming from. They hovered in the air over Artemis's grave. Slowly, a slight shimmer appeared, resolving into two child-sized (but perfectly proportioned) bodies. Both wore all-black high-tech looking suits, with reflective helmets. The fuzzy blur of wing beats was visible coming from each of their backs. The male one pulled off his helmet, followed by the female.

The male was handsome in a rather greenish way, and the female was sharply pretty. Both had long pointed ears rising from their heads. The female saluted crisply, introducing herself.

"Commander Holly Short, LEP Recon."

"Trouble Kelp, Counsel Representative. We're here on behalf of the People." He extended his small, black-gloved hand.

Shakily, Artemis Fowl Senior took it. "Artemis Fowl the First. Timmy, to avoid confusion."

Trouble shook firmly. "Artemis was an incredible man, and a great friend of the People. It's an honor to meet the man who raised him."

"Thank you, though I really can't take credit."

"Still." Trouble released his hand, "Artemis said we'd be working with your family."

"Apparently," Timmy said dazedly, then drew his wits back about himself. "Sorry, this is all a bit much."

"Yes," Holly said quietly, "Arty always did have that effect."

While Angelina seemed surprised to hear her pet name for her son come from this foreign creature's mouth, Artemis Senior smiled. The expression transformed his face into one years younger, and far more familiar to the fairies. A Fowl satisfied with a job well done.

"Yes. Yes, he did."

**I'm not totally satisfied with this. It started out as a vague idea: Artemis Fowl wants to make his mark on the world, but he leads a very dangerous lifestyle. Would someone so cunning as Artemis leave something so important as his legacy at risk? This is what I came up with. **

**It is a partner to Anneversiary, but not in the same universe. It simply follows the same train of thought that inspired Anna. **

**That and I'm past due to give you guys something new.**

**As always, PM me if you want to adopt.**

**Thanks,**

**~Sylvr**


End file.
